


Losers Gotta Stick Together

by dearzoemurphy



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, a healthy mix of fluff and angst, but in the end just two kids talkin on a bed, lowkey angsty, mild parental abandonment, takes place during the canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 08:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13609713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearzoemurphy/pseuds/dearzoemurphy
Summary: Evan and Zoe are both self-proclaimed losers, but they've found comfort and peace in each other. Maybe even the solution to everything that's wrong in each other.(Basically what starts as a fluffy conversation on Zoe's bed turns into a deep emotional conversation, takes place sometime during the events of the musical before Evan comes clean)





	Losers Gotta Stick Together

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate title: I read too far into Zoe's character and project all of my issues onto her.

“How did you learn how to braid so well?” Zoe asked as she laid in her boyfriend’s lap, lazily strumming on her ukulele.

Evan smiled down at his girlfriend as he tied off a waterfall braid on the left side of her head. “Well um, it’s really lame, but my mom taught me when I was young because I, um, wanted to impress a girl I liked in second grade, and I kept up my skills by helping do my mom’s hair on busy and early mornings,” he said.

Zoe stopped playing for a moment and craned her neck up to look at Evan. “Aww, that's really sweet actually,” she said, craning further up in an attempt to kiss him. Evan laughed softly as he leaned down to meet Zoe in the middle for an upside down kiss. Their lips brushed together gently, both of them giggling and smiling into it.

“Well, I can check doing the Spider-Man kiss off my bucket list,” Zoe said, giggling as they pulled apart. Evan smiled back, a light blush gracing his face as Zoe sat up on her bed and leaned against his shoulder. Once she shifted around for a moment and got comfortable, Zoe placed her head on Evan’s shoulder and resumed playing her ukulele, simply plucking at strings and strumming chords.

“How’d you learn to play that?” Evan asked, resting his chin on top of her head.

“My elementary school music teacher got a grant to run a ukulele club, and since I was a loser, I signed up and did it for the last two years I was there. When I left for middle school, my teacher just gave me the uke I used and told me I was talented and should keep it up, but I had to switch to guitar for middle school band. Point is, I picked it up at a young age and put it down for a while and just picked it back up again,” she said, giving a long-winded explanation while quietly strumming so the instrument only made faint noises.

“You're not a loser, that sounds like an awesome club honestly. I would have joined if I had gone to your school. But honestly, after saying that out loud, I guess that makes it a loser club,” Evan responded, rushed yet thoughtful, moving his head and starting to unbraid Zoe’s hair.

She chuckled. “That's why we're perfect together, right? Losers gotta stick together,” she said, starting to play a more defined melody instead of random strumming.

Evan reached the top of the braid and ran his hand through Zoe’s hair, undoing it completely and leaving it in soft waves, then grinned at her. “I guess so. Except, one of us here isn't a loser in the slightest,” he said, continuing to play with Zoe’s light caramel hair.

“Oh, stop it, we're both losers,” she replied, finger slipping and a distorted chord echoing through her bedroom.

Evan laughed. “I really like you, you know that right? I mean, maybe we haven't been dating too long but this is totally why I liked you in the first place, you won't try to lie to me and say I'm not a loser but just pretend you are too to make me feel better,” he said, putting an arm around his girlfriend.

Zoe snorted, and placed her ukulele on the bed beside her. “What do you mean I'm not a loser? I'm an artist, comic book geek, and jazz band member with good grades and like, maybe five friends,” she said, leaning into Evan’s embrace as his arm tightened around her.

He shrugged. “But you're too cool and you just don't care what everyone else thinks. I don't want to, but I still do. And, I guess that’s what separates a loser from a person who's just living their best life. Confidence,” Evan explained, stuttering slightly.

“I would argue with that, but it's the most profound thing I've heard all day,” Zoe said, then paused, thinking, “except, I do care, I just pretend I don't when I really don't want to if that makes any sense,” she finished.

Evan shrugged, then nodded. “Yeah, it makes sense. I guess we are both losers then, huh?” he asked, staring ahead at the flower painting on Zoe’s wall, and at her and her mother’s signatures visible in the bottom right corner.

Zoe smirked and sat up to give Evan a kiss on the cheek, then reached to grab his hand. “Yeah, I guess we are,” she said, leaning her head on his shoulder once more.

The pair took a deep breath together, and Zoe giggled as they exhaled. “We’re breathing together now, soon we’ll be telepathically linked,” she joked, wrapping her arms around Evan.

He smiled sweetly down at her, arm still draped over her shoulder. “Well, what am I thinking right now?” he asked, rubbing her arm.

Zoe looked up at him and pursed her lips. “I'd assume either something about me, the painting you were just staring at for a long time, something random about school, or a combination,” she said.

Evan laughed. “That's cheating, you pretty much just listed every possible option,” he said, stroking her hair.

Zoe shrugged. “One of those had to be right though, right?” she asked, grinning.

“Yeah, I was looking at you and your mom’s signatures, it's cute,” he said, beaming.

Zoe chuckled. “We painted that together at a mommy-daughter painting class, but we got into a big argument over what color scheme to use, to the point where the instructor almost kicked us out,” she said, giggling the whole time.

“Oh my god, how did you get into such a bad argument over the color scheme of a flower painting?” Evan asked, incredulous.

His girlfriend shrugged. “I have no clue. We used to argue a lot more. I guess…we used to talk a lot more as well,” she concluded, trailing off and becoming completely silent.

Evan raised his eyebrows, jaw dropping slightly. “Oh Zoe…” he started, but was cut off by her suddenly throwing her arms around him. She took a deep, shaky breath and burrowed her head into Evan’s neck. He quickly returned the tight embrace as he felt Zoe taking more deep breaths and several of her warm tears falling onto his shoulder.

“I've tried, I've tried. But it's…it's so hard…” Zoe stuttered between silent sobs.

Evan rubbed her back, wrapping his arms even tighter around her. “Shh, shh, it's alright. You're alright. I'm here. I'll take care of you,” he said quietly, attempting to comfort her.

She took another shaky breath. “I haven't been a part of a real family in so long. So long, it's been so long…” she continued, “I don't know how to fix it. How to fix them. Especially now,” Zoe concluded, moving her face slightly from the crook of Evan’s neck.

He loosened his embrace slightly, and planted a sweet kiss on Zoe’s forehead. “I'm sure it will work out. I kinda know how you feel though. Ever since my dad moved out, it's been just me and my mom, and that hardly feels like a complete family,” he said thoughtfully.

Zoe gave a deep sigh. “I guess I'm lucky in that I still have both of my parents, but they don't love each other. They barely tolerate each other. And they hardly try to be involved in my life beyond driving me where I need to go and insisting on eating dinner together every night, so when they do try to connect or talk to me, I don't want to open up. I can't open up. I…” she said, then burst into another wave of tears. She grabbed each side of Evan’s jacket and tugged on them, bringing him closer to her and burying her face in his chest this time. Evan was taken aback, and wasn't quite sure what to do. He settled for putting one arm around Zoe and stroking her hair with the other.

“Shh, it's okay. It's okay. Uh, you're gonna be fine. I promise. I'll help you in any way I can,” he said, stumbling through words in a desperate attempt to continue to comfort her.

Zoe looked up, her eyes brimming with tears. “You're the only light in my life right now,” she said quietly, then leaned in and gave Evan a deep kiss, pushing his head against the wall he was leaning against. When they came up for air, Evan looked Zoe in the eye to see several tears streaming down her face, barely holding in his own.

“I'm serious Zoe, is there anything I can do to help?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Maybe. For now you can just hold me. And kiss me until I forget about everything,” she said, sinking further into Evan’s arms.

Evan gave a sad smile, and adjusted his position so Zoe could sit next to him and lean against the wall. He smoothed her hair back and planted another kiss on her forehead. “I think I can do that,” he said.

Zoe took a deep breath and leaned her head on his shoulder again, taking his hand in hers as well. “I wish I could forget about it all sometimes. About Connor. About my parents. About everything and everyone that's ever hurt me,” she mused.

Evan decided to follow her previous instructions and cupped her chin, wiped away her tears, and gave her a long, chaste kiss on the lips.

Zoe grinned in return, sniffling then wiping away what remained of her tear stains. “You're right, that's one way to do it,” she said, then enthusiastically looped her arms around Evan’s neck and kissed him in return. Her tears soon dried as she and Evan kept kissing as the sun set, and he wouldn't let her see the small streams that escaped down his own cheeks.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this story!! A bit of a tone shift, but I'm just going with the flow. 
> 
> I know I have t finished the McNamawyer fic, I promise I will soon, but inspiration struck and was screaming at me to return to my roots so I had to lmao. 
> 
> As always, please leave any comments and constructive criticsm in the comments below!! I look forward to hearing from you all <3


End file.
